2014-01-18 - SDR: A New Plan of Action
So after many hours of debate, speculation, archive-combing (helped along greatly by Agent Coulson's seemingly encyclopedic memory of various bits of technology SHIELD has at its' disposal) and many pots' worth of coffee consumed, Agent Grant Ward and Agent Phil Coulson finally came up with a plan. So they called Director Fury and set up shop in one of the secured briefing rooms, a strange collection of blueprints, datapads, and holographic projectors now in place, awaiting the arrival of the man himself. Agent Ward is seated at the side of the table, still scrolling through a bit of data on one of the tablet computers, "It'll be a hell of a long shot, but no worse than the odds on some ops I've seen pulled off." He notes towards Coulson, finishing whatever it was he was doing and setting the tablet down. Coulson looks over the array of information production before them, rubbing his brow a little. "This will work, this will work." He frowns and sips from the coffee cup in front of him. Setting it back down, "We can make this work, but we will need to be careful." He rubs his chin in thought. Nick Fury, Director of SHIELD, strides into the room, a datapad under one arm, a cigar in his mouth, looking distinctly irritated. "I trust you have some good news for me, Agents?" Agent Hill follows close on Nick's heels with her earpeice in place trying to keep appraised of everything currently going on in her sector as well as the more major issue currently at hand. A datapad is held close to her chest leaned just far enough away that she can glance down at the readout at any given point to get further information. She was, as always, prepared and impecably kept in spite of the fact that she'd just chugged a double-shot of espresso because dammit the Deputy Director is MIA -AGAIN-. Agent Ward rises to his feet with Director Fury enters, giving both him and Hill a nod before handing them each one of the tablets, that will mirror much of the information that's being presented as they go. "Well, we've got more than we had a day ago. We've got an option that isn't nuclear, figuratively or literally." He moves to one side of the table, starting up the Holoprojector, as it starts to illuminate, he picks up a rolled set of blueprints and hands them to Fury, and after a few seconds, a holographic representation of a submersible flickers to live, "floating" above the table. It's very different from the submarine Clint and Natasha were taken in, though not much bigger, from the look of things. "As it turns out, we're not the only ones that have put a lot of thought into trying to get someone into Genosha undetected. This is the EMSS-1, designed by Israeli scientists two years ago. It's made completely of nonferrous materials, incorporates all the most state-of-the-art anti-detection equipment, and..." He highlights one particular component, "has a highly-classifed electromagnetic shielding system that blocks any EM signals from within the vessel from being detected. It's even designed to be air-dropped if needed. The project was scuttled due to being considered too expensive for the Israeli government to mass produce...but one prototype made it to 90 percent completion." The datapads flicker to life with a photo of said prototype, "That prototype, conveniently enough...was actually purchased by SHIELD just under a year ago. Thankfully, Agent Coulson remembered it. It's been sitting in deep storage ever since, but we've already had operations support dig it out. All of the most sensitive and specialized components are in-place. All that's left to complete it is off-the-shelf military components...primarily the navigation system. We estimate that if we spin up the Technical division we can have it ready to launch in no more than 15 hours. That's our way in, at the very least..." Coulson watches as the two higher ups enter and are offered tablets, "It will require sending an agent in with it to try and recover the deputy director and Agent Barton. If everything goes right it should be able to be accomplished with minimal notification to Magneto and others." He crosses his arms and leans back, "It is high risk, but possible if equipped properly and if most variables are accounted for and are favorable." Fury absorbs the information, nodding. "Can you get that estimate down any, son?" he asks. "15 hours is a long time, when they've already been in the hands of that terrorist as long as they have been." Agent Hill takes the datapad that was offered out with the current situation to skim over it quickly. With a small frown she considers, and then turns to her own datapad a moment to pull up a few different rosters. "The New York division can provide three additional engineers to help with the completion of the vehicle. They just finished another project and were slated to be on leave, but the priority of this mission takes pre-cedence. I'll give them another to make up for it later." "Or you can convince Tony Stark to pitch in and it'll be done in three." Agent Ward notes, with not a trace of humor or sarcasm in his voice, "But then he'll probably want in on the Op, if not operational control, as well." Ward adds, "But letting Stark and the Avengers in might not be a bad option, particularly if things go south. Agent Coulson has some ideas in that regard." And with that, Ward steps aside to let the older agent take over for the moment. "The Avengers will likely want in on this if invited," Coulson says, "That being said, the Avengers and us have overlapping membership, and likely could be of use on this matter, even if it is providing a distraction while we send someone in to rescure our people in there. Also, with the Avengers technically not under our control we are not in violation of our orders. If we just happen to be patrolling nearby and there is an issue arising near Genosha, that we happen to get involved to try and resolve it, and somehow we are able to secure the deputy director and Barton, we should be good." "I don't want Stark anywhere /near/ this," Fury replies. "You're right, he'll try and take it over, and I don't have time for a pissing match with him over whose jurisdiction the Widow and Hawkeye are." He looks over the pad again. "Do it. Whatever you need, get that sub up and running and my people back in house as soon as possible." "Stark has been... Compromised since the return of his ex. He's an unknown quantity at this point and in spite of his genius I don't advise sending someone in his state into the middle of troubled territory." Hill gives a firm nod at the Director's command as she setps back to allow him room to leave if it comes to that. He had a habit of just plowing through when in this sort of mood and she did not want to be in his way. For her own part she glances to Coulson and Ward remarking, "I have the utmost faith in all of us to get this done. However I do want to point out that if the Deputy Director doesn't come back..." A gaze is leveled. Ward would have to fill the spot again and she did not want to do that. "There are always jobs in the Antarctic that needed volunteers. ... Bring Barton back too, I guess." Threats are generally both ineffective and unnecessary on Agent Ward, and his stony countenance doesn't show any flicker of emotion at it. Instead he simply nods, "We'll get it done." The rest of the details of the plan are included on the tablets for Hill and Fury to peruse at their leisure, though there's nothing too extravagant about it, at least by SHIELD standards. A lot of stealth gear and some mental dampers to block out casual telepathic sweeps (not that they'll stop dedicated ones). That's about it. "All right, this should work, and the sooner we can get an agent out there, the better." Coulson is still calm, arms crossed, "Once we get an agent out there, they will be mostly cut off from aid, so perhaps having a strike team nearby, but not so close as to raise issues, would be in order." Fury nods. "Permission granted. Do what you need to do, Agents." And the man stands up, leaving the room.